The Story of the Goths

The Goths are the most enigmatic of all the ancient German tribes. Their name today is still widely in use for a variety of cultural and artistic movements. But unlike other famous German tribes whose names are still descriptive of nations they founded - the Franks, the Lombards, the Angles, the Saxons and the Alemanni - the Goths simply disappeared. The subject of Henry Bradley's splendid short history is tracing the rise, the migrations, and the impact of the Goths on European history along with their spectacular fall.

A History of the Middle Ages

A History of the Middle Ages is the amazing story of European man in transition. It is a dramatic chronicle of 1,000 years of political, social, and economic transformation beginning with the dissolution of the classical Mediterranean civilization and ending with the first flowering of the Renaissance. It is also the story of two new religions, Christianity and Islam, both of which were destined to dominate the mind of every person in those new civilizations arising in their wake.

A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain

Edward I is familiar to millions as "Longshanks", conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in Braveheart). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king's action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort, traveled to the Holy Land, and conquered Wales. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliaments. Notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom.

The History of the Franks

Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat and Catholic prelate born in 538. He died 56 years later, in 591, a period in which the brutal Merovingian rulers of the Frankish nation consolidated their power over most of Gaul. Gregory experienced the transition from the dying world of Roman antiquity to the new culture of early medieval Europe. He lived on the border between the Frankish culture of the Merovingians to the north and the Gallo-Roman culture of the south of Gaul. He struggled through personal relations with four Frankish kings.

The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England

An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful and unified kingdom in Christendom. An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans. One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles ever fought.

The Thirty Years War

Initially, the Thirty Years War was precipitated in 1618 by religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. But the conflict soon spread beyond religion to encompass the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire, and then later to the other European powers. By the end, it became simply a dynastic struggle between Bourbon France and Habsburg Spain. And almost all of it was fought out in Germany. Entire regions were depopulated and destroyed.

Edward III: The Perfect King

Holding power for over 50 years starting in 1327, Edward III was one of England's most influential kings and one who shaped the course of English history. Revered as one of the country's most illustrious leaders for centuries, he was also a usurper and a warmonger who ordered his uncle beheaded. A brutal man, to be sure, but also a brilliant one.

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land

The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.

The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence as well as the Italian Renaissance, which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Interwoven into the narrative are the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola.

Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell - or rather, its western half did. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire, would endure and often flourish for another 11 centuries. Though its capital would move to Constantinople, its citizens referred to themselves as Roman for the entire duration of the empire's existence.

Books That Matter: The City of God

Augustine of Hippo's masterpiece The City of God is one of the greatest books ever written, yet its size - nearly 1,000 pages - too often intimidates even serious readers. Composed in the years after the sack of Rome in the fifth century, it ushers you on an astounding historical and theological journey through the final years of the ancient world. What made this book so powerful? What mysteries lie within it? What relevance does the 1,600-year-old text have for our world today?

Napoleon: A Life

Andrew Roberts' Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine.

Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World

For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.

The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End

In The Vanquished, a highly original and gripping work of history, Robert Gerwarth asks us to think again about the true legacy of the First World War. In large part it was not the fighting on the Western Front that proved so ruinous to Europe's future but the devastating aftermath, as countries on both sides of the original conflict were savaged by revolutions, pogroms, mass expulsions, and further major military clashes.

The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade

From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T'ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled.

The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England

The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into an empire that stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic history, Dan Jones vividly resurrects this fierce and seductive royal dynasty and its mythic world. We meet the captivating Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice queen and the most famous woman in Christendom; her son, Richard the Lionheart, who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade; and King John, a tyrant who was forced to sign Magna Carta, which formed the basis of our own Bill of Rights.

The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones

In The Greatest Knight, renowned historian Thomas Asbridge draws upon the thirteenth-century biography and an array of other contemporary evidence to present a compelling account of William Marshal's life and times. Asbridge charts the unparalleled rise to prominence of a man bound to a code of honor yet driven by unquenchable ambition.

The English and Their History

Robert Tombs' momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history.

The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings

In AD 793 Norse warriors struck the English isle of Lindisfarne and laid waste to it. Wave after wave of Norse "sea wolves" followed in search of plunder, land, or a glorious death in battle. Much of the British Isles fell before their swords, and the continental capitals of Paris and Aachen were sacked in turn. Turning east, they swept down the uncharted rivers of central Europe, captured Kiev, and clashed with mighty Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

1066: The Year That Changed Everything

With this exciting and historically rich six-lecture course, experience for yourself the drama of this dynamic year in medieval history, centered on the landmark Norman Conquest. Taking you from the shores of Scandinavia and France to the battlefields of the English countryside, these lectures will plunge you into a world of fierce Viking warriors, powerful noble families, politically charged marriages, tense succession crises, epic military invasions, and much more.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece. Beginning in the second century A.D. at the apex of the Pax Romana, Gibbon traces the arc of decline and complete destruction through the centuries across Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a thrilling and cautionary tale of splendor and ruin, of faith and hubris, and of civilization and barbarism. Follow along as Christianity overcomes paganism... before itself coming under intense pressure from Islam.

The Vikings and Their Enemies: Warfare in Northern Europe, 750-1100

A fresh account of some of history's greatest warriors. The Vikings had an extraordinary and far-reaching historical impact. From the eighth to the 11th centuries, they ranged across Europe - raiding, exploring, and colonizing - and their presence was felt as far away as Russia and Byzantium. They are most famous as warriors, yet perhaps their talent for warfare is too little understood.

The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World

Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.

Medieval Christianity: A New History

For many, the medieval world seems dark and foreign - a miraculous, brutal, and irrational time of superstition and strange relics. The pursuit of heretics, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the domination of the "Holy Land" come to mind.

Publisher's Summary

Charlemagne was easily one of the most fascinating figures in Western civilization, as well as the most heroic and romantic. The 47 years of his reign marked some of the most significant and far reaching events of the Middle Ages. Undoubtedly, it was his enlightened vision for Europe that resulted in the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural flowering that never really ceased to develop, and which led in a straight line directly to that period of astonishing achievement we now call the High Gothic. It is almost impossible to conceive what Europe might have been like without him. Indeed, even in the 21st century, we still hear the echoes of his deeds in the hurly-burly of historical events that unfold today.

This incredible biography, without question the best ever written about Charlemagne in the English language and one of the greatest biographies of the 20th century, is a thrilling and poignant chronicle of the greatest of Medieval kings. We follow the young king in his early years as he assumes control over a divided kingdom, as co-ruler of the Germanic Franks along with his brother Carloman. When Carloman dies, Charlemagne assumes sole ownership of the crown and immediately begins his expansionist policy, first subduing the Lombards in Italy, then taking on the savage pagan Saxons. As his empire grows, Charlemagne proves himself a genius at military and civil administration. The Byzantine Emperor and Caliph of Baghdad held him in high esteem and acknowledged him as the successor to the western Roman emperors. But it was his great Christian faith and compassion that marked him out for greatness. He was a first rate scholar-humanist and surrounded himself with the greatest minds of Europe. As a fervent son of the church, it was Charlemagne more than anyone else who charted the course of the Catholic Church. As never before or since, Charlemagne held an empire in thrall as both its temporal and spiritual leader.

This book makes fascinating reading of medieval history, and manages to create a highly human overview of Charlemagne's reign from what must be rather meagre pickings after 1200 years, at least with respect to the personal letters and evidence of internal family happenings of such an heroic figure. The author takes great pains to convey where he may have questionable historical footing about his assumptions; thus the majority of the book rings solid and true. I would recommend it highly to anyone wishing to have a broader understanding of European history -- for me it was an important bridge from the Roman times to the history of England and Europe beginning with 1066. It is far easier to study this history with a human subject as a focal point, and this book builds heavily on that approach.
The printed book may well have a list of characters which would be very helpful to keep all the unusual names straight. If it were possible to do so with copyright issues being raised, it would be great if Audible would provide some backup information for a book like this one.

This was an exceptional audiobook. I knew a little about Charlemagne going in, but this is a comprehensive biography that is very colorful and highly interesting. I did not know that Charlemagne had such an influence on the church. I also didn't know what a lady's man he was. The writing is as good as you could want in a biography like this, scholarly but not pedantic. The author keeps it interesting, though he really packs a lot into this work. The description of his struggle with the Saxons was memorable to say the least. Don't miss this if you like medieval history. Great narrator.

I can't say enough great things about this book. If you are used to reading biographies of modern statesmen, you may be a bit put off at first, because obviously you will not find as many direct quotations or independent accounts of a ruler from the 8th century. Nonetheless, the author somehow manages to bring Charlemagne to life for us, creating not only a strong sense of personality but also a sense of the way that personality changed as the young ruler matured.

I also admire the way the author combines scholarship with humility. There are occasional points at which he lays out a mystery, gives some of the contending theories, and then reveals his own view -- always based on reasonable inferences from the available evidence, and always presented as hypothesis rather than fact. Many writers would not show so even a hand.

I once heard a professor of history remark that the whole idea of the "Dark Ages" was a modern conceit, and that it was important to remember that people who lived in those times had minds just as philosophically subtle as our own, even if they didn't have electricity or antibiotics. This book drives that point home in spades.

The effort in this terrific book is in becoming familiar with Germanic names. Events I suffered through in college over 40 years ago came alive and took on the meaning for me my teachers could only dream about. In some ways the book is a study in true leadership as well as the revelation of an extraordinary person in an extraordinary time. The details in this biography are welcome enhancements to the story, rather than mere historical events. The writer bridges the gap of more than 1300 years so well that the book actually seems modern. I look forward to a second listen.

"From the Hammer to the Cross". This audiobook is EXCELLENT. The author narrates with great responsibility and precision the life (and times) of Charlemagne from his ancestor (The Hammer) to his disappointing heir (The Cross). The main character is brought to life in a very special way: he seems like one's close acquaintance once you get to know him. We are, unwittingly, familiarized with the whole world history of his time (at least the one that matters): Empress Irene and successors in Constatinople, Harun-Al-Rashid in Bagdad, The kings of Mercia and the petty kingdoms of northern Spain. Another interesting feature is the portrayal of the ambivalent and complex relationship between our character and the popes (Stephen, Hadrian and Leo). It's like a novel, only better because it isn't. Buy this audiobook, it will make you a better person (or at least better informed).

This book takes a bit of work to listen to. The reader has an English accent, an echo is added to the quotes, and there is medieval filler music between chapters. The effect is a bit like watching a filmstrip or movie in high school, between the production style and the stories of unfamiliar people like Pepin, Charles Martel, and the like. This does make it educational, however and overall the book is pretty good. Being the biography of an emperor it emphasizes political history more than social. I'm finding that I like social history better, but there were enough nuggets of information on regular life that the book was good for me. Specifically, I always wondered why you couldn't just live on your piece of land and be left alone. Now I know.

If you are interested in Charlemagne and the history of his time, the book is worthwhile but plan on working some to get through it.

When I bought this title, I was thinking, "This will be good for me to learn; it might even be interesting at times." I was surprised to find the book never had any dull spots. I did learn so many interesting things that helped set a great backdrop for the roots of France and Germany, feudalism, the history of education, the Vikings, the Ottoman Empire's rise, and even the Norman invasion of England in subsequent centuries. That I was able to become so much more knowledgable about a time and person we only hear little about while enjoying a biography that was so readable was wonderful!

This audiobook successfully brings to life the politics of the middle ages, a period that is little studied in secondary or post-secondary institutions. You get to know Charlemagne ... Charles ... the dynastic machinations, complex relationship with the Vatican, incessant warring among the former "barbarian" groups that overthrew Rome a few hundred years before. I think I would have benefitted by having a map of the period in front of me, since I struggled to understand what was happening where. But that is my own fault, not the book's fault. The narration was peculiar ... with the quotations delivered as if in an echo chamber, to differentiate it from the regular text. But I found that endearing, not irritating. This is a fairly heavy history volume, and the style of narration made it much easier to take that is sometimes the case with other history audiobooks.

I felt this was the best historical account from the middle ages I've ever heard/read. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history and to anyone with questions about the Catholic Church, Charlemagne, or the Byzantine Empire.

The quality of the production was very good. The content was even better. I knew very little about Charlemange prior to listening to the book. Now I know more than I can remember. The author was thoughough and thoughtful. Except for the occasional speculation regarding the internal thoughts of some of the historical figures, I really enjoyed listening.

I was bit doubtful about this because of the comments in other reviews about it being dry and about the narrator's voice.
I didn't find it dry at all - it was a very easy, engrossing listen.
I too though found the narrator's voice distracting. It's very plummy; sounding English, but with some American pronunciations, such as 'dynasty' and a strange pronunciation of Bede as 'beedy' (which may be technically correct, but isn't how he's known today). I found myself thinking at times about where the narrator is from rather than listening to what he was saying.
That said, the distraction wasn't enough to put me off the book

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Jane

Sheffield, United Kingdom

7/18/07

Overall

"Dry but informative"

This book is slow and meticulous but very informative. Having never known much about the medieval Europe, I am certainly now much better informed about at least one aspect of it. At times I rather chafed against the length of the book, at other times I felt very soothed by the gentle exposition of political history. When it finished I rather wished there had been more of it. I was certainly left with a deep respect for Charlemagne himself.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Kl Love

Wassenaar Netherlands

5/17/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Slightly dated but enjoyable nonetheless"

Would you listen to Charlemagne again? Why?

Probably not, but only because I think I've absorbed from it all I can/ need to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Charlemagne?

This is a history, not a drama, so the 'high points' are those experienced by Charlemagne himself. The most important is probably his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor, after a campaign of many years to acquire that title. The book puts this event into a setting that helps the reader understand what it meant to Charlemagne, and why.

What three words best describe Charlton Griffin’s performance?

Dated but not offensive. Many others have criticised Griffin's performance, and I understand why: he sounds like a supercilious throwback to the 1950's (a BBC announcer or university lecturer, perhaps). However, this book is a creature of that time, with many assertions about Charlemagne's state of mind, thoughts etc which are clearly the author's projections; and once I hit on the idea of thinking of this as an account spoken by someone like a history don from the 1960's (it was written in 1968), I found Griffin's delivery a coherent and even enjoyable part of the overall presentation.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No; it's a factual history which is not intended to arouse emotion. However, it is not just a recitation of facts, but rather an attempt to present Charlemagne in context, and to give some insight (albeit mainly speculative and perhaps rather superficial and uncritical) into his personality and mind.

Any additional comments?

This book (and the performance) reflects the historical approach of its time, but is none the worse for that as long as you realise it. I found it an enjoyable and worthwhile book from which I learned a lot about Charlemagne and the individuals around him. We would probably not write history this way now, but I found the book laid out very well the scope of this extraordinary man's achievements.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Neil J. Pearson

London, UK

8/2/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Made an interesting figure dull"

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The writing could have been less fancy. The author had that unpleasant historian quirk of placing trying to sound clever above trying to sound clear.

What will your next listen be?

Probably some fiction to cleanse the palatte eg "Dangerous women" anthology or a science book eg "the inexplicable universe". Something that moves along fast and is focused.

What didn’t you like about Charlton Griffin’s performance?

His overfly flowery pronunciation of words - particuraly his insistence on pronouncing vowels so they sound like other vowels. I guess it matched the style of writing though.

Any additional comments?

While I didn't enjoy the writing style and found many aspects tedious there were still some enjoyable moments especially when the author came to life while dispute contentious interpretations of history.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Mandy

5/7/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Dreadful narration"

Where does Charlemagne rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The narration style makes it nearly impossible for me to listen to it, shame because the content is fascinating

How could the performance have been better?

A less breathy and urgent style. It sounded like someone trying to enthuse a bored audience of teenagers in a topic the narrator believed to be boring

Any additional comments?

The 'set' questions offered for reviewers are inappropriate for this type of book. The book covers a fascinating period of history and a remarkable character who played an important part in the development of Europe. It deserved better narration

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Philip

Sevenoaks, United Kingdom

5/28/12

Overall

"strange accent, old fashioned history"

I wish I'd read the reviews first. I really think that audible should warn you that a book is over 50 years old. The way the history is handled is very old fashioned: full of confident assertions about people's character and motivation, very little about economic and cultural factors. Sources aren't evaluated very seriously and we are treated to the author's confident view of what happened and why with hardly any suggestion of alternative readings. The narrator's accent is weird too; it's a kind of stage RP, but moves into a more marked form in places ("awf" for "off" etc.) a's sometimes become o's and along with other oddities "sycophant" ends up as "psychofont". I wonder how long ago the Saturday Review said this was the best biography of Charlemagne in English.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

A. J. Barringer

Oxford UK

4/29/09

Overall

"great book poor naration"

The content was very good but was spoiled by the narration. Charlton Griffin appears to have done many audio books but narrates with no intonation, pitch, variation or context reference to the text, reading every word as if unconnected to the others around it. this made the book difficult to listen to despite its' content.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Richard Irwin

Wiltshire, England

5/17/07

Overall

"Disappointing"

A fascinating historical figure no doubt, but enjoyment of this book ruined by the narrator Charlton Griffin who cannot pronounce simple worlds like 'envoy' (despite a plummy hammy accent) and horrible special effects such as 'echoes' when quoting ancient authorities. The book is definitely dated and I wonder if there is a more modern English biography that uses more up to date research and is a little less dominated by the cultural prejudices of the mid 20th century.

2 of 6 people found this review helpful

Jim

London

5/6/12

Overall

"Interesting but of its time"

Written in the 1950's in quite a high blown style. If you've read Winston Churchill's "This Sceptered Isle" you'll know what to expect. It's a very heavily researched, comprehensive study of Charlemagne and as an Englishman with a shamefully thin knowledge of European history I found it interesting throughout. However, the narration is a bit disconserting in its oratorical style and the periodic sound effects, while demonstrating that the producers were really trying to add the experience, just serve to reinforce the fact that this now seems a very stylised and slightly anachronistic piece.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Barry

Torrington, United Kingdom

6/9/11

Overall

"dramatisation - not an audiobook"

This is not a reading of a text, but rather a dramatisation complete with gregorian chanting in the background (and other sound effects), and a narrator who would be more at home on in radio play. I found these very irritating and gave up after 20 mins. I can't comment on the content as I couldn't get past the sound effects...

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

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